A Delaware state senator wants to become the first openly transgender member of Congress.
Sarah McBride, 32, announced Monday that she will run for Delaware's only U.S. House seat, currently held by Democrat Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester.
Rochester last week said she will run for the U.S, Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Thomas R. Carper, D-Del.
McBride, the country's highest-ranking transgender elected official, became the first openly transgender person to work at the White House, as an intern under then-President Barack Obama.
"It's clear that diversity in government is necessary for us to not just ensure we have a healthy democracy but also to truly deliver for people," McBride told Delaware Online/The News Journal. "I am certainly cognizant of the uniqueness of my candidacy, of the uniqueness that my voice would bring to the halls of Congress.
"But ultimately, I'm not running to be a trans member of Congress. I'm running to be Delaware's member of Congress who's focused on making progress on all of the issues that matter to Delawareans of every background."
McBride could become the first trans person elected to federal office. She also would be the youngest elected official Delaware has sent to Washington since President Joe Biden's U.S. Senate win in 1972.
McBride, who once worked as the national press secretary for Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest LGBTQ civil rights advocacy group, is expected to be in a competitive primary. Eugene Young, director of the Delaware State Housing Authority, previously declared his interest in running.
McBride, who has received the support of labor organizers and national organizations, touted the endorsements of dozens of Delaware politicians, including Attorney General Kathy Jennings.
Jennings called McBride a "once-in-a-lifetime talent."
McBride told The New York Times that she understands the likely scrutiny that comes with being the first of anything.
"There will certainly be attacks, but I'm no stranger to those," McBride told the Times. "What I've demonstrated over the last few years is that I'm able to move past those attacks and focus on what matters to the people I represent.
"Congress is certainly different than the Delaware state Senate, but I am confident that when I get there, by focusing on issues that impact people of every party, of every ideology, and in every part of our state, that I'll be able to find common ground with people whom I disagree with vehemently."
McBride won her Wilmington-based state senate seat in 2020 with more than 70% of the vote and ran unopposed for a second term last year.
In 2016, McBride became the first openly transgender person to speak at the Democratic National Convention in 2016.
Biden wrote the forward to McBride's 2018 memoir. McBride also worked on the attorney general campaigns for Beau Biden, the president's son who died in 2015.
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